SA 1175.58.90

HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY








SA 1175.58. go


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م با


SA177.5.58.90
HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
JUN 24 1942
Trom the got of stenry L. Chattuch


IMMEDIATE,
NOT GRADUAL
A BOLITION,
&c. &c. &c.
IT is now seventeen years since the Slave Trade was abolished
by the Government of this country—but Slavery is still perpe-
tuated in our West India colonies, and the horrors of the Slave
Trade are aggravated rather than mitigated. By making it
felony for British subjects to be concerned in that inhuman
traffic, England has only transferred her share of it to other
countries. She has, indeed, by negociation and remonstrance,
endeavoured to persuade them to follow her example.-But
has she succeeded ?-How should she, whilst there is so little
consistency in her conduct? Who will listen to her 'pathetic
declamations on the injustice and cruelty of the Slave Trade
whilst she rivets the chains upon her own slaves, and subjects
them to all the injustice and cruelty which she so eloquently
deplores when her own interest is no longer at stake? Before
we can have any rational bope of prevailing on our guilty
neighbours to abandon this atrocious commerce-to relinquish
the gair of oppression, the wealth obtained by rapine and vio-
lence,-by the deep groans, the bitter anguish of our unoffend-
ing fellow creatures ; — we must purge ourselves from these pol-
lutions ;-we must break the iron yoke from off the neck of our
own slaves,—and let the wretched captives in our own islands
go free. Then, and not till then, we shall speak to the sur-
rounding nations with the all-commanding eloquence of sincerity
and truth,—and our persuasions will be backed by the irre-
sistible argument of consistent example. But to invite others
to be just and merciful whilst we grasp in our own hands the
rod of oppression,--to solicit others to relinquish the wages of


iniquity whilst we are putting them into our own pockets—what
is it but cant and hypocrisy? Do such preachers of justice
and mercy ever make converts ? On the contrary, do they not
render themselves ridiculous and contemptible ?
But let us, individually, bring this great question closely home
to our own bosoms. We that hear, and read, and approve, and
applaud the powerful appeals, the irrefragable arguments against
the Slave Trade, and against slavery,-are we ourselves sin-
cere, or hypocritical ? Are we the true friends of justice, or do
we only cant about it?-To which party do we really belong ?-
to the friends of emancipation, or of perpetual slavery? Every
individual belongs to one party or the other; not specula-
tively, or professionally merely, but practically. The perpe-
tuation of slavery in our West India colonies, is not an abstract
question, to be settled between the Government and the
Planters,—it is a question in which we are all implicated ;-we
are all guilty,—(with shame and compunction let us admit the
opprobrious truth) of supporting and perpetuating slavery. The
West Indian planter and the people of this country, stand in
the same moral relation to each other, as the thief and the
receiver of stolen goods. The planter refuses to set his
wretched captive at liberty,—treats him as a beast of burden,-
compels his reluctant unremunerated labour under the lash of
the cart whip,—why?- because we furnish the stimulant to all
this injustice, rapacity, and cruelty,-by PURCHASING ITS
PRODUCE. Heretofore, it may have been thoughtlessly and
unconsciously,---but now this palliative is removed ;-the veil
of ignorance is rent aside ;-the whole nation must now divide
itself into the active supporters, and the active opposers of
slavery,;—there is no longer any ground for a neutral party to
stand upon.
The state of slavery, in our West Indian islands, is now
become notorious ;--the secret is out ;-the justice and hu-
manity, the veracity also, of slave owners,—-is exactly ascer-
tained ;—the credit due to their assertions, that their slaves
are better fed, better clothed,—are more comfortable, more
happy than our English peasantry, is now universally under-
stood. The tricks and impostures practised by the colonial
assemblies, to hoodwink the people,—to humbug the Govern-
ment,-and to bamboozle the saints (as the friends of emanci-
pation are scornfully termed)-have all been detected—and the
cry of the nation has been raised, from one end to the other,
against this complicated system of knavery and imposture,-of
intolerable oppression, of relentless and savage barbarity.
But is all this knowledge to end in exclamations, in petitions,
and remonstrances ?-Is there nothing to be done, as well as
said? Are there no tests to prove our sincerity,—no sacrifices
to be offered in confirmation of our zeal ?-Yes, there is one,--


(but it is in itself so small and insignificant that it seems almost
burlesque to dignify it with the name of sacrifice)—it is ABSTI-
NENCE FROM THE USE OF WEST INDIAN PRODUCTIONS,
sugar, especially, in the cultivation of which slave labour is
chiefly occupied. Small, however, and insignificant as the
sacrifice may appear,-it would, at once, give the death blow
to West Indian slavery. When there was no longer a market
for the productions of slave labour, then, and not till then, will
the slaves be emancipated.
Many had recourse to this expedient about thirty years ago,
when the public attention was so generally roused to the enor-
mities of the Slave Trade. But when the trade was abolished
by the British legislature, it was too readily concluded that the
abolition of slavery, in the British dominions, would bave been
an inevitable consequence, this species of abstinence was there-
fore unhappily discontinued.
“ But (it will be objected) if there be no market for West
Indian produce, the West Indian proprietors will be ruined, and
the slaves, instead of being benefited, will perish by famine.”
Not so,—the West Indian proprietors understand their own
interest better. The market though shut to the productions of
slave labour, would still be open to the productions of free
labour,—and the planters are not such devoted worshippers of
slavery as to make a voluntary sacrifice of their own interests
upon her altar;-they will not doom the soil to perpetual bar-
renness rather than suffer it to be cultivated by free men. It
has been abundantly proved that voluntary labour is more pro-
ductive,-more advantageous to the employer than compulsory
labour. The experiments of the venerable and philanthrophic
Joshua Steele have established the fact beyond all doubt :- But
the planter shuts his eyes to such facts, though clear and evi-
dent as the sun at noon day. None are so blind as those who
will not see. The conviction then must be forced upon these
infatuated men. It is often asserted, that slavery is too deeply
rooted an evil to be eradicated by the exertions of any principle
less potent and active than self interest—if so, the resolution to
abstain from West Indian produce, would bring this potent and
active principle into the fullest operation,-would compel the
planter to set his slaves at liberty.*
But were such a measure to be ultimately injurious to the
interest of the planter that consideration ought not to weigh a
feather in the scale against emancipation. The slave has a
right to his liberty, a right which it is a crime to withhold-let
the consequences to the planters be what they may. If I have
been deprived of my rightful inheritance, and the usurper,
* It has been ascertained that the abstinence of one tenth of the inhabitants
of this country from West Indian sugar would abolish West Indian slavery.


because he has long kept possession, asserts his right to the
property of which he has defrauded me; are my just claims to
it at all weakened by the boldness of his pretensions, or by the
plea that restitution would impoverish and involve him in ruin?
And to what inheritance, or birth-right, can any mortal have
pretensions so just, (until forfeited by crime) as to liberty ?
What injustice and rapacity can be compared to that which
defrauds a man of his best earthly inheritance, tears him from
his dearest connexions, and condemns him and his posterity to
the degradation and misery of interminable slavery ?
In the great question of emancipation, the interests of two
parties are said to be involved, the interest of the slave and
that of the planter. But it cannot for a moment be imagined
that these two interests bave an equal right to be consulted,
without confounding all moral distinctions, all difference
between real and pretended, between substantial and assumed
claims. With the interest of the planters, the question of
emancipation, has (properly speaking) nothing to do. The
right of the slave, and the interest of the planter, are dis-
tinct questions ; they belong to separate departments, 'to dif-
ferent provinces of consideration. If the liberty of the slave
can be secured not only without injury but with advantage to
the planter, so much the better, certainly ;-but still the libera-
tion of the slave ought ever to be regarded as an independent
object; and if it be deferred till the planter is sufficiently alive
to his own interest to co-operate in the measure, we may for
ever despair of its accomplishment. The cause of emancipa-
tion has been long and ably advocated. Reason and eloquence,
persuasion and argument have been powerfully exerted; expe-
riments bave been fairly made,-facts broadly stated in proof of
the impolicy as well as iniquity of slavery,—to little purpose ;
even the hope of its extinction, with the concurrence of the
planter, or by any enactment of the colonial, or British legisla-
ture, is still seen in very remote perspective,-so remote, that
the heart sickens at the cheerless prospect. All that zeal and
talent could display in the way of argument, has been exerted
in vain. All that an accumulated mass of indubitable evidence
could effect in the way of conviction, has been brought to no
effect.
It is high time, then, to resort to other measures,—to ways
and means more summary and effectual. Too much time has
already been lost in declamation and argument,-in petitions
and remonstrances against British slavery. The cause of eman-
cipation calls for sometbing more decisive, more efficient than
words. It calls upon the real friends of the poor degraded and
oppressed African to bind themselves by a solemn engagement,
an irrevocable vow, to participate no longer in the crime of
keeping bim in bondage. It calls upon them to “ wash their


own hands in innocency;"—to abjure for ever the miserable
hypocrisy of pretending to commiserate the slave, whilst, by
purchasing the productions of his labour they bribe bis master
to keep him in slavery. The great Apostle of the gentiles
declared, that he would “ eat no flesh whilst the world stood,
rather than make his Brother to offend.” Do you make a simi-
lar resolution respecting West Indian produce. Let your reso-
lution be made conscientiously, and kept inviolably ;-let no
plausible arguments which may be urged against it from with-
out,—no solicitations of appetite from within, move you from
your purpose,--and in the course of a few months, slavery in
the British dominions will be annihilated.
Yes, it may be said) if all would unite in such a resolu-
tion,—but what can the abstinence of a few individuals, or a
few families do, towards the accomplishment of so vast an
object?”—It can do wonders. Great effects often result from
· small beginnings. Your resolution will influence that of your
friends and neighbours ;-each of them will, in like manner,
influence their friends and neighbours ;—the example will
spread from house to house,—from city to city,—till, among
those who have any claim to humanity, there will be but one
heart, and one mind,-one resolution, one uniform practice,
Thus, by means the most simple and easy, would West Indian
slavery be most safely and speedily abolished.
.
“ But, (it will be objected) it is not an immediate, but a gra-
dual emancipation, which the most enlightened and judicious
friends of humanity call for, as a measure best calculated, in
their judgment, to promote the real interests of the slave, as
well as his master; the former, not being in a condition to make
a right use of his freedom, were it suddenly restored to him."
This, it must be admitted, appears not only the general, but
almost universal sentiment of the abolitionists ;-to oppose it
therefore, may seem a most presumptuous, as well as hopeless
attempt. But truth and justice are stubborn and inflexible ;
they yield neither to numbers or authority.
The history of emancipation in St. Domingo, and of the con-
duct of the emancipated slaves for thirty years subsequent to
that event (as detailed in Clarkson's admirable pamphlet, on the
necessity of improving the condition of our West Indian slaves,)
is a complete refutation of all the elaborate arguments which
have been artfully advanced to discredit the design of imme-
diate emancipation. No instance has been recorded in these
important annals, of the emancipated slaves (not the gradually,
but the immediately emancipated slaves) having abused their
freedom. On the contrary, it is frequently asserted in the
course of the narrative, that the negroes continued to work upon
all the plantations as quietly as before emancipation. Through
the whole of Clarkson's diligent and candid 'investigations of


The enemies of slavery have hitherto ruined toeir cause by
the senseless cry of gradual emancipation. It is marvellous ·
that the wise and the good should have suffered themselves to
have been imposed upon by this wily artifice of the slave bolder,
--for with him must the project of gradual emancipation have
first originated. The slave holder knew very well, that bis
prey would be secure, so long as the abolitionists could be ca-
joled into a demand for gradual instead of immediate abolition.
He knew very well, that the contemplation of a gradual eman-
cipation, would beget a gradual indifference to emancipation
itself. He knew very well, that even the wise and the good,
may, by habit and familiarity, be brought to endure and tolerate
almost any thing. He had caught the poet's idea, that-
“ Vice is a monster of such frightful mien,
“ As to be hated, need but to be seen;
“ But, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
“ We first endure, then pity, then embrace.”
He caught the idea, and knew how to turn it to advantage.-
He knew very well, that the faithful delineation of the horrors
of West Indian slavery, would produce such a general insur-
rection of sympathetic and indignant feeling; such abhorrence
of the oppressor, such compassion for the oppressed, as must
soon have been fatal to the whole system. He knew very well,
that a strong moral fermentation had begun, which, had it gone
forward, must soon have purified the nation from this foulest
of its corruptions ;-that the cries of the people for emancipa-
tion, would have been too unanimous, and too importunate for
the Government to resist, and that slavery would, long ago,
have been exterminated throughout the British dominions. Our
example might have spread from kingdom to kingdom,-from
continent to continent, and the slave trade, and slavery, might,
by this time, have been abolished-all the world over :-*. A
sacrifice of a sweet savour,” might have ascended to the Great
Parent of the Universe;" His kingdom might have come,
and his will (thus far) have been done on earth, as it is in
Heaven.”
But this GRADUAL ABOLITION, has been the grand marplot
of human virtue and happiness ;-the very master-piece of
satanic policy. By converting the cry for immediate, into
gradual emancipation, the prince of slave holders, “ trans-
formed himself, with astonishing dexterity, into an angel of
light,”—and thereby~" deceived the very elect.”—He saw very
clearly, that if public justice and humanity, especially, if Chris-
tian justice and humanity, could be brought to demand only a
gradual extermination of the enormities of the slave system;
if they could be brought to acquiesce, but for one year, or for
one month, in the slavery of our African brother,---in robbing


10
him of all the rights of humanity,--and degrading him to a level
with the brutes ;—that then, they could imperceptibly be
brought to acquiesce in all this for an unlimited duration. He
saw, very clearly, that the time for the extermination of slavery,
was precisely that, when its horrid impiety and enormity were
first distinctly known and strongly felt. He knew, that every
moment's unnecessary delay, between the discovery of an im-
perious duty, and the setting earnestly about its accomplishment,
was dangerous, if not fatal to success. He knew, that strong
excitement, was necessary to strong effort ;—that intense feel-
ing was necessary to stimulate intense exertion ;-that, as
strong excitement, and intense feeling are generally transient,
in proportion to their strength and intensity,—the most effectual
way of crusbing a great and virtuous enterprize,—was to gain
time,-to defer it to “ a more convenient season," when the
zeal and ardour of the first convictions of duty had subsided ;
when our sympathies had become languid ;-when considerations
of the difficulties and hazards of the enterprize, the solicitations
of ease and indulgence should have chilled the warm glow of
humanity,-quenched the fervid heroism of virtue ;-when
familiarity with relations of violence and outrage, crimes and
miseries, should have abated the horror of their first impression,
and, at length induced indifference.
The father of lies, the grand artificer of fraud and imposture,
transformed himself therefore, on this occasion, pre-eminently,
“ into an angel of light”-and deceived, not the unwary only,
the unsuspecting multitude, but the wise and the good, by
the plausibility, the apparent force, the justice, and above all,
by the humanity of the arguments propounded for gradual
emancipation. He, is the subtilest of all reasoners, the most
ingenious of all sophists, the most eloquent of all declaimers.-
He, above all other advocates, “ can make the worst appear
the better argument;" can, most effectually pervert the judg-
ment and blind the understanding,—whilst they seem to be
most enlightened and rectified. Thus, by a train of most ex-
quisite reasoning, has he brought the abolitionists to the con-
clusion,—that the interest of the poor, degraded, and oppressed
slave, as well as that of his master, will be best secured by bis
remaining in slavery. It has indeed, been proposed to mitigate,
in some degree, the miseries of his interminable bondage, but
the blessings of emancipation, according to the propositions of
the abolitionists in the last session of Parliament, were to be
reserved for his posterity alone,-and every idea of immediate
emancipation is still represented, not only as impolitic, enthu-
siastic and visionary, but as highly injurious to the slave himself,
--and a train of supposed apt illustrations is continually at
hand, to expose the absurdity of such a project. “Who (it is
asked) would place a sumptuous banquet before a half-famished


11
wretch, whilst his powers of digestion were so feeble that it
would be fatal to partake of it?- Who would bring a body
benumbed and half frozen with cold, into sudden contact with
fervid heat ? Who would take a poor captive from his dun-
geon, where he had been immured whole years, in total dark-
ness, and bring him at once into the dazzling ligbt of a meridian
sun? No one, in his senses, certainly. All these transitions
from famine to plenty,--from cold to heat,-from darkness to
light, must be gradual in order to be salutary. But must it
therefore follow, by any inductions of common sense, that
emancipation out of the gripe of a robber or an assassin,-out
of the jaws of a shark or a tiger, must be gradual ? Must, it,
therefore, follow, that the wretched victim of slavery must
always remain in slavery ?-that emancipation must be so
gradual, that the blessings of freedom shall never be tasted by
him who has endured all the curses of slavery, but be reserved
for his posterity alone?
There is something unnatural, something revolting to the
common sense of justice, in reserving all the sweets of freedom
for those who have never tasted the bitter cup of bondage,--
in dooming those who have once been compelled to drink it, to
drain it to the very dregs. Common equity demands that
relief should be administered first to those who have suffered
most;—that the healing balm of mercy should be imparted first
to those who have smarted most under the rod of oppression :
that those who have borne the galling yoke of slavery, should
first experience the blessings of liberty. The cause of eman-
cipation loses more than half its interest, when the public
sympathy is diverted from its natural channel,turned from
the living victims of colonial bondage to their unborn"progeny.
It is utterly astonishing, with such an object as West Indian
slavery before us, rendered palpable, in all its horrors, almost
to our very senses, by a multitude of indubitable facts, collected
from various sources of the highest authority, all uniting in the
same appalling evidence ;—with the sight of our fellow-creatures
in bondage so rigorous,-in moral and physical degradation so
abject;—under a tyranny so arbitrary, wanton and barbarous ;-
it is utterly astonishing, that our compassion and sympathy
should be so timid and calculating,—so slow and cautious.
Under the contemplation of individual suffering, comparatively
trifling, both in nature and duration, our compassion is prompt
and quick in its movements,ếour exertions, spontaneous and
instinctive;—we go the shortest way to work, in effecting the
relief of the sufferer. But, in emancipating eight hundred thou-
sand of our fellow creatures and fellow subjects from a worse
than Egyptian bondage, we advance towards the object, by a
route, the most indirect and circuitous ; we petition Parliament,
year after year, for gradual emancipation :--to what purpose ?


12
Are we gaining or losing ground by these delays? Are we
approaching nearer or receding farther from the attainment of
our object? The latter, it is too evident, is, and must be the
case. The evil principle is more subtle and active in its various
operations, than the good principle. The advocates of slavery,
are more alert and successful in insinuating into the public
mind, donbts and fears, coldness and apathy on the subject of
emancipation, than the abolitionists are in counteracting such
hostile influence ;—and the desertions from the anti-slavery
standard in point of zeal and activity, if not in numbers, since
the agitation of the question in Parliament last year, are doubtless-
very considerable.
Should the numerous petitions to Parliament be ultimately
successful;—should the prayer for gradual emancipation be
granted; still, how vague and indefinite would be the benefit
resulting from such success. Should some specific time be
appointed by government, for the final extinction of colonial
slavery ;-that period, we have been informed from high autho-
rity, will not be an early one. And who can calculate the tears
and groans, the anguish and despair;—the tortures and outrages
which may be added, during the term of that protracted inter-
val, to the enormous mass of injuries already sustained by the
victims of West Indian bondage? Who can calculate the
aggravated accumulation of guilt which may be incurred by its
active agents, its interested abettors and supporters? Why
then, in the name of humanity, of common sense, and common
honesty, do we petition Parliament, year after year, for a gra-
dual abolition of this horrid system,—this complication of crime
and misery? Why petition Parliament at all, to do that for
us, which, were they ever so well disposed, we can do more
speedily and more effectually for ourselves ?
It is no marvel that slave holders, should cry out against im-
mediate emancipation, as they have done against all propositions
for softening the rigors of colonial slavery. “ Insurrection of
all the blacks, -massacre of all the whites.”—are the bug-bears
which have been constantly conjured up, to deter the British
Parliament from all interference between the master and his
slave. The panic was the same, the outcry just as violent,
when an attempt was made about forty years ago, to abate the
horrors of the middle passage, by admitting a little more air
into the suffocating and pestilent holds of the slave ships; and
a noble duke, besought Parliament not to meddle with the alarm-
ing question.* Confident predictions, from this quarter, of
rebellion and bloodshed, have, almost uniformly followed every
proposition to restrain the power of the oppressor and to miti-
gate the sufferings of the oppressed.
See the Debate on this subject in 1823,


13
It is therefore no wonder, that West Indian proprietors, and
slave holders, should exclaim against immediate emancipation;
that they should tell us, the slaves are so depraved as well as
degraded, as to be utterly incapacitated for the right use of
freedom ;—that emancipation, instead of leading them into
habits of sober contented industry, would be inevitably followed
by idleness, pillage, and all sorts of enormities ;-in short, that
they would rise in a mass, and massacre all the white inhabitants
of the islands.
That slave holders should say, and really believe all this, is
perfectly natural;-it is no wonder at all that they should be
full of the most groundless suspicions and terrors ;—for tyrants
are the greatest of all cowards.-" The wicked fleeth when no
man pursueth ;"he is terrified at shadows and shudders at
the spectres of his own guilty imagination.
But that the abolitionists should have caught the infection
should be panic-struck ;—that the friends of humanity,--the
wise and the good-should be diverted from their purpose by
such visionary apprehensions ;-that they should “ fear where
no fear is;”-should swallow the bait, so manifestly laid to draw
them aside from their great object;—that they should be so
credulous, so easily imposed upon-is marvellous.
The simple enquiry, what is meant by emancipation ? might
have dissipated at once all these terrible spectres of rapine and
murder. Does emancipation from slavery imply emancipation
from law? Does emancipation from lawless tyranny,-from
compulsory unremunerated labour, under the lash of the cart
whip, imply emancipation from all responsibility and moral re-
straint? Were slavery in the British colonies extinguished,
the same laws which restrain and punish crime in the white
population, would still restrain and punish crime in the black
population. The danger arising from inequality of numbers
would be more than counteracted by the wealth, influence, and
the armed force, possessed by the former. But independent
of such considerations, the oppressed and miserable, corrupt as
is human nature, do not naturally become savage and revenge-
ful when their oppressions and miseries are removed. As long
as a human being is bought and sold, -regarded as goods and
chattels, - compelled to labour without wages, — branded,
chained, and flogged at the caprice of his owner; he will, of
necessity, as long as the feeling of pain,—the sense of degra-
dation and injury remain, he will, unless he have the spirit of a
Christian martyr, be vindictive and revengeful. “Oppression
(it is said) will make (even) a wise man, mad.” But will the
liberated captive, when the iron yoke of slavery is broken ;---
when bis heavy burdens are unbound,—his bleeding wounds
healed, his broken heart bound up; will he then scatter venge-
ance and destruction around him?


15
would entail upon its virulent and infuriated opposers.* And is
that a consideration to stand in competition with the liberation
of eight hundred thousand of our fellow creatures from the
heavy yoke of slavery ? Must hundreds of thousands of human
beings continue to be disinherited of those 'inherent rights of
humanity, without which, life becomes a curse, instead of a
blessing ; must they continue to be roused and stimulated to
uncompensated labour, night as well as day, during a great.
part of the year, by the impulse of the cart wbip, that a few
noble lords and honourable gentlemen may experience no priva-
tion of expensive luxury,- no contraction of profuse expendi-
ture,-no curtailment of state and equipage ? Must the scale
in which is placed the just claims, the sacred rights of eight
hundred thousand British subjects, be made to kick the beam,
when weighed in the balance against pretensions so compara-
tively light and frivolous ?
Among the West Indian proprietors, there are doubtless, in-
dividuals of high character and respectability, whose education
and circumstances may, nevertheless, disqualify them from tak-
ing a strictly impartial view of colonial slavery. Such, of course,
must be exempt from the just odium,—the reprobation, wbich
belongs to the general body, as far as they have rendered their
own character notorious by their own declarations by the
speecbes they have published, and the decrees they have issu-
ed ;-by the virulent abuse, the rage and calamny which they
have heaped upon the abolitionists ;-by the alternations of
fawning servility and insolent tbreatening, with which they at
one time “ prostrate themselves at the foot of the throne;"—at
another, protest, in the tone of defiance, not to say rebellion,
against British interference with colonial legislation. Towards
these gentlemen, there has been extended a great deal too much
delicacy and tenderness. They are culprits, in the strictest
sense of the word, and as such, they ought to be regarded,
notwithstanding their rank and consequence, by every honest
impartial moralist. They have received too long, the gains of
oppression ;—too long have they fattened on the spoils of hu-
manity.
It matters not at all, how, or when, the planter acquired his
pretended right to the slave ;—whether by violence or robbery,
—by purchase or by inberitance. His claim always was, and
always will be, ill-founded, because it is opposed to nature, to
reason, and to religion. It is also illegal, as far as legality has
any foundation of justice, divine or human, to rest upon. His
plea for protection against the designs of the abolitionists, on
the ground that his property has been embarked in this nefari-
* The account of the London Meeting of West Indian Planters, which took
place in February last, perfectly justifies the application of these epithets.


18
direct, through means more simple ;-had they confided more
in the goodness of their cause, and dreaded less the opposition
of its adversaries ;-bad they depended more upon divine, and
less upon human support—their triumphs, instead of their de-
feats, would, long since, have been recorded. Surely their eyes
must at length be opened ;—they must perceive that they have not
gone the right way to work,-that the apprehension of losing
all, by asking too much,-bas driven them into the danger of
losing all, by having asked too little ;—that the spirit of com-
promise and accommodation has placed them nearly in the si-
iuation of the unfortunate man in the fable, who, by trying to
please every body, pleased nobody, and lost the object of his
It had been well, for the poor oppressed African, had the
asserters of his rights entered the lists against bis oppressors,
with more of the spirit of Christian combatants, and less of
worldly politicians ;—had they remembered, through the whole
of the struggle, that it was a conflict of sacred duty, against
sordid interests,—of right against might;—that it was, in fact,
an holy war,—an attack upon the strong holds, the deep in-
trenchments of the very powers of darkness ; in which courage
would be more availing than caution ;-in which success was to
be expected, less from prudential or political expedients, than
from that all-controling power, which alone gives efficacy to
human exertions,—which often defeats the best concerted
schemes of human sagacity and accomplishes his great purposes
through the instrumentality of the simplest agency. Had the
labours of the abolitionists been begun and continued on Divine,
instead of human reliance, immediate emancipation would have
appeared just as attainable as gradual emancipation. But, by
substituting the latter object for the former, under the idea that
its accomplishment was more probable, less exposed to objection;
-and by endeavouring to carry it, through considerations of
interest, rather than obligations of duty; they have betrayed an
unworthy diffidence in the cause in which they have embarked ;
they have converted the great business of emancipation into
an object of political calculation ;-they have withdrawn it from
Divine, and placed it under human patronage ;-and disap-
pointment and defeat, have been the inevitable consequence.
If the deadly root of slavery be ever extirpated out of British
soil, it will be by such exertions as are prompted by duty rather
than interest. We cannot sufficiently admire the great wisdom
and goodness of those providential arrangements which have,
in the general course of events, so inseparably connected our
duty with our interest;—but with regard to the broad and
palpable distinctions between right and wrong, virtue and vice;
-the more simple and direct the reference to the will of our
Divine Lawgiver, and that of his vicegerent, conscience, the
more determined will be our resolution, the more decisive our
conduct." How shall I do this great wickedness and sin


19
against God”-will be the most influential of all considerations.
And the solemn inquiry, pressed home to the conscience, how
an enlightened and Christian government,-how an enlightened
and Christian community, can, in any way, encourage or sanc-
tion such a complicated system of iniquity as that of slavery,
“ the greatest practical blunder, as well as the greatest calamity,
that has ever disgraced and afflicted human nature,”—without
sharing its guilt, and, if there be a righteous Governor of the
universe, its punishment also ?-will be followed up by propo-
sitions more consistent and energetic, than such as aim only at
its gradual extermination.
The very able mover of the question in Parliament last year,
proposed that our colonial slavery should be suffered—“ to
expire of itself,—to die a natural death.-But a natural death,
it never will die.--It must be crushed at once, or not at all.
While the abolitionists are endeavouring gradually to enfeeble
and kill it by inches, it will gradually discover the means of
reinforcing its strength, and will soon defy all the puny attacks
of its assailants.
In the mean time, let the abolitionists remember,—while they
are reasoning and declaiming and petitioning Parliament for
gradual emancipation,-let them remember, that the miseries
they deplore remain unmitigated,—the crimes they execrate are
still perpetuated ;-still the tyrant frowns—and the slave trem-
bles ;—the cart-whip still plies at the will of the inhuman driver
—and the hopeless victim still writhes under its lasb. The
ameliorating measures recommended by Parliament, to the
colonial legislators, are neglected and spurned. The bad
passions of the slave holder are exasperated and infuriated by
interference, and vengeance falls, with accumulated weight, on
the slave. It had been better for him, had no efforts been made
for his emancipation, than that they should ultimately fail, or be
feebly exerted the interval of suspense, will be an interval of
restless perturbation,—of aggravated tyranny in the oppressor,
-of aggravated suffering to the oppressed. Unsuccessful op-
position, to crimes of every description, invariably increases
their power and malignity.
Animmediate emancipation then, is the object to be aimed at;
it is more wise and rational,-more politic and safe, as well as
more just and humane,--than gradual emancipation. The in-
terest, moral and political, temporal and eternal, of all parties
concerned, will be best promoted by immediate emancipation.
The sooner the planter is obliged to abandon a system which
torments him with perpetual alarms of insurrection and mas-
sacre, which keeps him in the most debasing moral bondage,
-subjects him to a tyranny, of all others, the most injurious and
destructive—that of sordid and vindictive passions ;—the sooner
he is obliged to adopt a more humane and more lucrative policy
in the cultivation of his plantations ;-the sooner the over-
laboured, crouching slave, is converted into a free labourer,


21
those who are most under the influence of true Christian prin-
ciple, are not always wound up to such a pitch of disinterested
and ardent zeal, as is requisite to cope with such a host of
interested and powerful opponents, as are the West Indian
proprietors and slave holders. Those, who are " called to
glory and virtue,"—invited, to labour, in the Divine vineyard,
are admonished, to “ work whilst it is day,—for the night
cometh, in which no man can work ;”—whilst they have light,
they are admonished to “ walk in the light, lest darkness come
upon them.” Mental darkness, and spiritual night, steal fast
upon those, who, when an imperious duty is presented to them,
-wben sufficient ability is imparted for its accomplishment,-
falter and procrastinate.
If the great work of emancipation be not now accomplished,
humanly speaking, it may be despaired of, as far as our agency
is concerned. The rising generation may furnish no such
zealous, devoted advocates, as a Clarkson, a Wilberforce, and
a Buxton. If the clear light, the full information, they have
so generally diffused :—the deep interest and sympathy they
have so generally excited, produce no other results than those
at present contemplated by the abolitionists ;—this country may
fall under the curse of being judicially hardened and blinded,
in consequence of having been softened and enlightened to so
little purpose ;-and the emancipation of eight hundred thousand
British slaves ! may be effected through other means and other
agency, which, when once roused into action, may realize all
those terrific scenes of insurrection and carnage which the ima-
gination of the planter has so often contemplated.
Since the preceding pages were written, the sentences passed
upon the insurgents of Demerara and Kingston have reached
us. Some, had been hung, others, had received corporeal
punishment-to what extent--let those who have ears to hear,
and hearts to feel, deeply ponder. Some had received, others,
were yet to receive-ONE THOUSAND LASHES,—AND WERE
CONDEMNED TO BE WORKED IN CHAINS DURING THE RESI-
DUE OF THEIR LIVES!! The horrid work, has probably, by
tbis time been completed, human interposition therefore, with
respect to these individual victims of WEST INDIAN JUSTICE
will now be of no avail.
But shall such sentences as these, be suffered to pass the
ordeal of public opinion? Shall they be established as prece-
dents for future judgments, on future insurgents ? Forbid it-
every feeling of humanity-in every bosom. Let every principle
of virtue which distinguishes the human from the brute creation,
—the professors of the benignant, compassionate religion of
Christ, from the savage and blood-thirsty worshippers of Mo-
loch,-raise one united, determined and solemn protest against
the repetition of these barbarities, which blaspheme the sacred
name of justice,--and seem to imprecate Almighty vengeance.


23
Let us not overlook our own urgent duties in the pursuit of
such as are less imperative. Let us first-mind our own busi-
ness,-" pluck the beam out of our own eye." Let us first
extend the helping hand, to those who have the first claim to
our assistance. Let us first liberate our own slaves—which we
may do, without furnishing them with arms or ammunition.
Then, we shall have clean hands,-and the Divine blessing may
then be expected to crown our exertions for the redemption of
other captives.
Should the weak objection, still haunt some inconsiderate
reader, of the little good, which can reasonably be expected to
result from individual abstinence from West Indian produce ;
let bim reflect, that the most wonderful productions of human
skill and industry; the most astonishing effects of human power
have been accomplished by combined exertions, which, when
individually and separately considered, appear feeble and insig-
nificant. Let him reflect, that the grandest objects of human
observation consist of small agglomerated particles ; that the
globe itself is composed of atoms too minute for discernment;
that extended ages consist of accumulated moments. Let him
reflect, that greater victories have been achieved by the com-
bined expression of individual opinion, than by fleets and
armies ; that greater moral revolutions have been accomplished
by the combined exertion of individual resolution, than were
ever effected by acts of Parliament.
The hydra-headed monster of slavery, will never be destroyed
by other means, than the united expression of individual opinion,
and the united exertion of individual resolution. Let no man
restrain the expression of the one, or the exertion of the other,
from the apprehension that his single efforts will be of no avail.
The greatest and the best work must have a beginning, often,
it is a very small and obscure one. And though the example
in question should not become universal, we may surely hope
that it will become general.
It is too much, to expect that the matter will be taken up-
(otherwise, than to make a jest of it) by the thoughtless and
the selfish : what proportion these bear to the considerate and
the compassionate, remains to be ascertained. By these, we may
reasonably expect that it will be taken up, with resolution and
consistency. By Christian societies of every denomination,-pre-
eminently by that, which has hitherto stood foremost in the great
cause of abolition. By the great body of the Catholics too, who
attach so much merit to abstinence and self-denial ;--and by all
the different Protestant professors, (who are at all sincere in
their profession) of the one religion of universal compassion ;-
which requires us“ to love our neighbour as ourselves,”-this
testimony against slavery may be expected to be borne with
scrupulous and conscientious fidelity.
Think, but for a moment, at what a trifling sacrifice the re-
demption of eight hundred thousand of our fellow creatures from


24
the lowest condition of degradation and misery may be accom-
plished. Abstinence from one single article of luxury would
annihilate West Indian slavery !! But abstinence it cannot be
called ;-we only need substitute East India, for West India
sugar,--and the British atmosphere would be purified at once,
from the poisonous infection of slavery. The antidote of this
deadly bane; for which we have been so many years in laborious
but unsuccessful search, is most simple and obvious,-too
simple and obvious, it should seem, to have been regarded.
Like Naaman, of old, who expected to be cured of his leprosy,
by some grand and astonishing evolution, and disdained to wash,
as he was directed, in the obscure waters of Damascus ;-we
look for the abolition of British slavery, not to the simple and
obvious means of its accomplishment, which lie within our own
power,—but through the slow and solemn process of Parliament-
ary discussion, - through the “ pomp and circumstance” of
legislative enactment ;-most absurdly remonstrating and peti-
tioning against that system of enormous wickedness, which we
voluntarily tax ourselves to the annual amount of two millions
sterling, to support ! !*
That abstinence from West Indian sugar alone, would sign
the death warrant of West Indian slavery, is morally certain.
The gratuity of two millions annually, is acknowledged by the
planters, to be insufficient to bolster up their tottering system,--
and they scruple not, to declare to Parliament, that they must
be ruined, if the protecting duties, against East India compe-
tition, be not augmented.
One, concluding word, to such as may be convinced of the
duty , but may still be incredulous as to the efficacy of this
species of abstinence, from the apprehension that it will never
become sufficiently general to accomplish its purpose. Should
your example not be followed ;-should it be utterly unavailing
towards the attainment of its object ;-still, it will have its own
abundant reward :-still, it will be attended with the conscious-
ness of sincerity and consistency,--of possessing “ clean
hands,—of having "no fellowship with the workers of iniquity;"
still, it will be attended with the approbation of conscience,-
and doubtless, with that of the Great Searcher of hearts, who
regarded with favourable eye, the mite cast by the poor widow,
into the treasury, and declared, that a cup of cold water only,
administered in Christian charity, “ shall in no wise lose its
reward.”
* Every reader may not be aware, that such is the amount of duty laid on East
India, to keep up the unnatural price of West India sugar.
Knight and Bagster, 14, Bartholomew Close, London.

















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